Route indicating device



Jan. 24,` 1939.

H. SJ WEST ROUTE INDICATING DEVICE f 6 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 25,1938 INVENTOR HAROLD Simpson lane-5rV AT1-QR NEvs Jn. 24, l1939. 4 H s,WEST 9 2,144,949

ROUTE INDICATING DEVI CE Filed Jan. 25, 1938 e sheets-sheet 2 ff' 72%?v7576 6 Ma a 75 77 lNvENToR BY HARLD S/MPSON WEST ATToR/YE YS Jan. 24,1939. 1H. s, WEST 2,144,949

I ROUTE INDICATING DEVICE .Filed Jan. 25, 1938 e sheets-sheet s IN VENTOR HAROLD SIMPSON WEST Bywwmdk ATTO RN EVS Jmj24, 1939. H; s. W5S-T2,144,949

ROUTE INDICATING DEVICE 5 Filed Jan. 25, 1939 6 sheets-sheet 4 oFme-REST. CAUTION INVENTOR Q HAROLD SIMPSON WEST ATTORNEYS Jan. 24, 1939.H. s. WEST" ROUTE INDICTING DEVICE Filed Jan. 25, 1938 6 Sheets-Sheet 5IN VENTOR HAROLD 51M PSO/v WEST BY MM l me ATTORNEYS Jan. 24, 193.91Y 'vH. s. WEST 2,144,949

ROUTE INDICATING DEVICE 'Filed Jan. 25, 1958 i e sheets-sheet e J Y'29T/ JW L f 1N VENTQR HAROLD SlMPSoN WEST ATTO KNEYS Patented Jan. 24,1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application January 25, 1938, SerialNo. 186,851 In Great Britain February 5, 1937 3 Claims.

A route indicating device is known in which a diagrammatic map of aroute to be followed is moved relatively to indicating means said mapbeing driven directly or indirectly by the pro- VIl peller shaft or theroad wheels of a vehicle so that the driver of the vehicle may beapprised of his position, at any given moment, during the course of hisjourney and may have his attention called to objects of interest, dangerspots and so on. The object of the present invention is to provide animproved indicating device of this general character.

To this end and in accordance with the invention the device includes aroute card or the like (bearing a diagrammatic representation of a mapshowing a route to be followed) which may be moved relatively toindicating means said route card or the like being formed with camsurfaces, apertures or the like adaptedto coact 20 with spring pressedplungers (constituting part of the indicating means) which control thecircuits of a plurality of lights or other indicators for intimating tothe driver of a vehicle the proximity of danger points in the route,places of interest, major turns and the like. The route card or the likemay be movable and driven from the propeller shaft orthe wheels of thevehicle whilst the indicating means are station- 'ary or vice versa. Forexample the route card or the like may be a straight strip and theindicatingmeans may be mounted on a carriage movable relatively to saidcard or the like by a fine pitch screw driven, e. g. from the propellershaft, or the card or the like may be circular (or a straight card orthe like may be bent into cylindrical form) Vand driven relatively tostationary indicating means. If the card or the like be circular it maybe annular, the usual speedometer face being exposed through a space at40`the centre of said card or the like.

The movable element of the route indicating device may be driven throughvariable speed transmission mechanism, whilst a movable member of asubsidiary indicating device is driven through rstep up gearing, saidsubsidiary indicating device including a distance indicating card or thelike upon a correspondingly larger scale than the route card or thelike, and means being provided for interrupting at will the drive to themovable member ofthe subsidiary indicating device.

One form of the invention will now be vdescribed bylway of example withreference to the 'accompanying diagrammatic 'drawings of which 4Figures1, 2 and y3 yare respectively front, rear and side elevations Aof aroute card; Figurefi is a sectional front elevation of the indicatingand testing mechanism parts being broken away and parts beingomitted-for the sake of clearness, Figure 5 is a part sectional sideelevation parts j* being broken away, Figure 6 is a front elevation ofthe device and-Figures 7, 8 and 9 are views `of details to a largerscale, Figures 10 and 11 are respectively a fragmentary sectional frontelevation and a fragmentary plan of a modiiication, and Figure 12 showsa detail of a part shown in Figure 10.

As shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 the route card or the like consists of anelongated rectangular strip I Iy of translucent Celluloid or the likeadapted to "slide into grooves formed in the door I2 (Figures 5 and 6)of the device. This so-called card Il bears centrally along its length adiagrammatic representation indicated at I3 (Figure 1) of the route tobe followed and at the 20 sides indications with regard to danger spots,turnings and so on whilst upon its rear faceit carries strips I4 formedwith cam surfaces I5 (Figures 2 and 3) for a purpose which will beapparent hereinafter. The door I2 is hinged to the casing I6 of thedevice and behind said door there is provided a carriage I1, slidableupon suitable guides I8, I9 and carrying a half nut 20, (seeparticularly Figures 8 and 9). Said half nut is carried on the ends ofrods 2 I, 22 slidable in the carriage l1 and the other ends of said rodscarry a push button 23 which is urged by a spring 24 in the direction tocause the half nut to engage With a fme pitched screwthreaded tubularmember 25.

Coaxially 'through said tubular member 25 there extends a rod 26 whichmay be driven through variable speed gearing to be described hereinafterfrom the mileage recording mechanism of the usual speedometer and whichcarries at its upper end a collar 21 formed at its lower side withserrations vnormally engaging corresponding serrations upon the upperend of the screw-threaded tubular member 25; said collar 21 and saidtubular member 25 are normally urged into operative engagement by aspring 28 abutting at one end against said collar 21 and at the otherend against the under surface of a knob 29 (slidable axially of the rod26).

The carriage I1 is provided with a lamp 30 `50 (Figure 8) which shines.a'pin point of light through a shade 3| upon the diagrammaticrepresentation I3 of the route, and with ve plungers 32 each of vwhichis spring urged towards one of ve sets of the cam surfaces I5 which arearranged lengthwise of the card Il. 'I'he arrangement is such thatdepression of each plunger 32 causes the plunger to abut against acontact strip 33 whereby the electrical circuit of an appropriate lamp34, is completed, to give to the driver of the vehicle a suitableindication.

It will be appreciated that as the driver proceeds upon his journey thecarriage I1 moves lengthwise of the diagrammatic representation I3 ofthe route yand the pin point of light indicates to the driver hisposition at a given instant, whilst turns to the right or left, dangerpoints and the like will be indicated, preferably in advance, by therespective lamps 34, actuated by the plungers 32, which lamps 34 areconveniently coloured. At one side of the card Il is indicated thedistance in miles from the objective, thus the driver may ascertainreadily how far he has to go.

It will be appreciated that when a plunger 32 is pushed back by a camI5, the circuit of the appropriate lamp 34 will be closed, whilst thevehicle travels an appreciable distance, and in case necessity shouldarise to give a second similar indication before the vehicle hastravelled the appreciable distance just mentioned, one of the sets ofcams l5 is provided to ope-rate the plunger 32 to close the circuit ofthe appropriate lamp 34 to indicate to the driver that. the signal lastgiven by the apparatus is to be considered as repeated. For example,after the apparatus has indicated that a turn is to be made towards theright, it may be necessary for a second turn to be made towards theright before the circuit of the appropriate indicating lamp has beenbroken, and this necessity is indicated by the lighting of the repeatlamp 34.

If due to any error, (for example inaccuracy in the speedometer) the pinpoint of light does not indicate accurately the position of the vehicleupon the route the carriage may be adjusted rapidly by depressing theknob 29 (thus releasing the tubular member 25 from the rod 26) andturning it in the appropriate direction, whilst, by forcing the half nut20 out of engagement with the screw threads upon the tubular member 25the carriage may be rapidly reset when a new route card is to beinserted into the door l2 preparatory to a further trip. In order thatthe pin point of light may be caused to shine exactly on the initialindication on the route card Il when the carriage I1 is in its lowestposition, a thumb screw 35 (Figures 5 and 6) on the base of the door i2is provided for adjusting the route card H relatively to the carriagel1.

The rod 26 is interconnected with a testing device through step upgearing and, as shown in Figure 4, the rod 26 drives, through the gearwheels 35, 31, and 38, a pinion 39 which may be connected through aclutch 40, controlled by a lever 4l, with an externally screw-threadedrod 42. A carriage 43 carries a half nut 44 which engages with thescrew-threaded rod 42 but which may be disengaged therefrom by a pushbutton 45 in the manner described in connection with the half nut 20.Said carriage 43 carries a pointer 46 which projects in front of a card41, bearing a scale of miles, mounted in front of the carriage 43 inappropriate guides 48. A thumb screw 49 is mounted in the upper wall ofthe casing I8 for the purpose of adjusting the card 41 relatively to thepointer 46. It will be appreciated that, since the pointer 45 coactingwith the card 41 prevents rotation of the carriage 43 relatively to therod 42, rotation of said rod will cause axial movement of the carriage43 therealong whilst, by disengaging the half nut 44 from the rod 42 bymeans of the push button 45, the carriage 43 may be reset when desiredto the zero reading on the scale of miles upon the card 41.

The rod 26 is driven from the speedometer through variable speed gearingillustrated in the lower part of Figure 4 and as shown a flexible shaft50 connected with the speedometer drives a shaft 5l which carries abroad toothed pinion 52, and it will be noted that the shaft 5| isinclined to the vertical for a purpose which will be apparenthereinafter. Said pinion 52 meshes with a pinion 53 freely rotatable onan internally screw-threaded bushing 54 which coacts with ascrew-threaded rod 55, which is also inclined to the vertical. Saidbushing 54 is provided with a projecting pin 54a (Figure 5) which passesthrough a slotted guide 54b and thus prevents rotation of said bushing54. Said screw-threaded rod 55 carries at its lower end a bevel gearwheel 56 lwhich meshes with a bevel gear wheel 51 (Figures 5 and. 7)fast on a shaft 58 which extends through a panel 59 (Figures 5 and '7)and terminates in a block 60 which is accommodated l within a recess 6|formed in a knob 62. Said knob is urged by a spring 63 towards the panel59 and'carries a pin 84 which normally engages with a hole 65 drilled inthe panel 59. It will be appreciated that by pulling the knob 62outwardly against the pressure of the spring 63, the pin 64 is withdrawnfrom the hole 65 so that the knob may be turned to cause the bushing 54and pinion 53 to be moved axially of the screw-threaded rod 55. pinion53 can be brought into engagement with any one of a series of pinions66, 61, 68, 69, and 16, mounted on a rotatable vertical shaft 1|, saidpinions having a progressively smaller number of teeth from lthe pinion66 to the pinion 10.1 The difference in diameter of the pinions 66 to 15is compensated by the inclination to the vertical of the screw-threadedrod 55. Also fast upon the rotatable shaft 1| is a pinion 12 whichmeshes constantly with a gear wheel 13 mount# ed on a rotatable shaft14. Said shaft 14 also carries gear wheels 15, 16, 11, and 18, thenumber of teeth of which decreases progressively from the gear wheel 15to the gear wheel 18. Any one of the gear wheels 15 to 18 may be meshedwith a pinion 19 rotatable on a screw-threaded bushing 8!)(corresponding in all respects with the bushing 54) which coacts with ascrew-threaded shaft 8|, inclined to the vertical, and carrying, at itslower end, a bevel gear wheel 82,` it being understood that the bushingB8 and pinion 19 may be moved axially of the screwthreaded shaft 81 in amanner identical to that described with reference to bushing 54 andpinion 53. The pinion 19 meshes with a broad toothed pinion 83 mountedon a shaft 84 which is inclined to the vertical, and said shaft 84 alsocarries a pinion 85 meshing with a gear wheel 86 fast on the rod 26. Therelative number of teeth on the gear wheels and pinions of the variablespeed gear is such that lowering or raising the gear ratio, by movingthe pinion 53 out of mesh with one of the pinions 66-10, and into meshwith an adjacent pinion, causes a difference in the distance indicatedon the route card Il of 40 yards when the distance travelled is a truemile, whilst movement of the pinion 1.9 out of mesh with one of the gearwheels 15 to 18 and into mesh with an adjacent gear wheel causes adifference in the distance indicated on the route In this manner the'card of 10 yards. The panel 59 may be marked with the appropriateindications as indicated in Figure 6.

Errors in the indicating device may be determined in the followingmanner:-

The carriage 43 is set to the zero reading on the card 41 by disengagingthe half nut 44 from the screw-threaded rod 42. The clutch 4U is thenengaged as the vehicle passes a milestone, and when, say, the thirdmilestone is reached, the clutch 4i) is disengaged and the distance,shown by the pointer 4E upon the card 41, is noted. Suppose that thedistance recorded is 3 miles and 150 yards, then the error is 50 yardsper mile.

To correct this error it will be sufficient to turn the knob 62,appertaining to the pinion 53, one complete turn in a direction todecrease the gear ratio between the flexible shaft 50 and the rod 25,and to turn the knob 62, appertaining to the pinion 19, one completeturn in a like direction. It will be appreciated that the maximum errorafter correction has been made cannot exceed 5 yards per mile.

There is provided therefore, an extremely simple and effective means ofadjusting the route indicating device so that this latter will giveaccurate indications even if the tires be worn or if the tire pressureof the vehicle be at variance with the recommended pressure or, in thecase where the device is driven from the speedometer, if this instrumentbe inaccurate.

Instead ci the rod 26 being driven through the flexible shaft 5d, fromthe speedometer, said shaft may be driven directly from the propeller orthe road wheels, in which case the speedometer would be driven e. g. bya flexible cable from the shaft 84. This arrangement has the advantagethat correction of errors in the main indicating device automaticallycorrects any errors there might otherwise be in the speedometerreadings, due, for example` to incorrect tire pressures or to the factthat the tires have become worn.

In a modified form of the invention shown in Figures l0 and l1 the shaftSli is extended upwardly and carries two bevel gears 8l and 8B. Thebevel gear 8l' meshes with a bevel gear 89 fast on one end of a shaftS0, which is supported in bearings 9| and 9-2, whilst the other end ofthe shaft 9|) carries a bevel gear 93 which meshes with a bevel gear 94fast upon an extension of the screw-threaded rod 42. The bevel gear 88meshes with a bevel gear 95 fast on a shaft 96 which is carried inbearings 97, 98. Said shaft 95 carries also a worm 99 which meshes witha worm wheel |00 on the lower end of the shaft 26. In this modified formof the invention the carriage 43 has pivoted thereto, at pointsintermediate their length', two members |0| and |62 (see particularlyFigure 12) each carrying at one end a half nut such as |93 whilst theirother ends are formed with thumb grips |04 and are urged away from oneanother by a compression spring H35. Said other ends project through aslot |06 in the casing I6 of the device so that by pressing the thumbgrips |04, |04 together against the action of the spring |03 thecarriage 43 may be adjusted without the necessity of opening the door |2of the device.

In another example of the invention the route card is in the form of acentrally apertured disc which is suitably positioned in a ringfrictionally connected with a sleeve which is rotated through wormgearing by the mileage recording mechanism of the speedometer. In thiscase the sets of cam surfaces and the diagrammatic representation of theroute to be followed are arranged concentrically whilst the plungers andthe lamp, for focussing a pin point of light upon the representation,are suitably arranged upon a fixed part of the vehicle. Adjustment ofthe device to cor rect errors may be effected by turning the ring in theappropriate direction against irictional resistance. In this form thedevice cf the invention may be incorporated with the speedometer, thedial of the latter being visible through the aperture in the route card.

Similarly the card of the testing device may be in the form of a discsuitably positioned in a ring frictionally connected with a sleeve whichmay be rotated through bevel gearing from the shaft of the testingdevice, a fixed pointer being provided on the casing and coacting withthe scale on the card. In this case the shaft need not be screw threadedand the carriage of the testing device is not required.

In some cases, the route card may be a strip, bent to cylindrical form,the arrangement being similar to that just described except that theposition of the plungcrs and is suitably mcdilied so that they are, e.g. radially directed.

In the foregoing it has been assumed that the improved device is for theuse of the driver of a vehicle, particularly a motor car, but it is tobe observed that it is equally applicable for the use of passengers onmotor cars, railway trains and the like, especially to indicate pointsof interest on the route.

I claim:

l. A route indicating device comprising indicating lamps, anA`electrical circuit therefor, a route card, indicating means movablerelatively to said route card and including spring pressed plungers,said route card being form-ed with sets of means each adapted to coactwith one of said plungers during relative movement between said routecard and said indicating means, driving means, including variable speedgearing, for effecting said relative movement, a subsidiary indicatingdevice including a fixed member and a movable member, step up gearingbetween said driving means and said movable member, and means forinterrupting at will the drive to said movable member of said subsidiaryindicating device.

2. A route indicating device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the variablespeed gearing includes a screw threaded shaft, a Screw threaded bushingccacting therewith, a pinion cn said bushing. gear wheels adapted tomesh alternatively with said pinion, and means for rotating said screwthreaded shaft and serving to effect axial movement of said bush andpinion.

3. A route indicating device comprising indicating elements, a routecard, indicating means movable relatively to said route card andincluding members adapted to coact with sets of means on said route cardduring relative movement between said route card and said indicatingmeans and serving to operate the indicating elements,

driving means, including variable speed gearing, for effecting saidrelative movement, a subsidiary indicating device including a xed memberand a movable member, step up gearing between said driving means andsaid movable member, and means for interrupting at will the drive tosaid movable member of said subsidiary indicating device.

HAROLD SIMPSON WEST.

